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Dummy problems...

Benjamin is 8 weeks and until recently has been brilliant at settling himself, however he had a virus at the weekend and wouldn't settle so we gave him a dummy that he did use in his first week or two and sometimes uses through the day. Now he seems unable to settle without it and as he is falling asleep it will fall out his mouth and this will wake him up - a vicious circle.

I am sure lots of people will have experienced this - I was wondering (hoping!) that someone would have some advice? Is it best to go cold turkey with it and just not give it to him and keep going in and settling him? Or I've read on another thread about cutting slits in the dummy to make it less appealing?

Another Benjamin! My Ben won't take a dummy at all so he has his thumb instead. I have a friend who had your problem and she went cold turkey. A couple of upset days then her LO was fine without it. Else you could hang on until he can replace it himself.Sorry I can't be more help!

Hey there, we use a dummy and my lo is just over 7 months. I found this happened a bit when he was smaller but soon passed. I think it was cos mouths still quite small so harder to keep it in. But it didnttake long till he didn't notice it fall out. I've always been a bit shall I shan't I drop dummy but I find now he will take it or leave it, do I don't worry as those times he wants it really helps to settle. As for slits, I've not heard of this so can't comment! But for putting back in himself, Charlie sometimes gets a lucky guess , but usually if he picks up out of cot it turns into a toy to band against the bars, of he chews on the handle!!

I'm sorry if I've not been much help, rambled a bit! But back to your op, from my experince the falling out and waking passes quite quickly!

I would perhaps try a different dummy too. Oliver had a TT one and it always fell out of his mouth when he was nodding off. I have just bought some MAM ones after seeing some good reviews and he seems to keep them in. Not sure if it is a coincidence?

You could encourage his thumb. Oliver tries to put his whole hand in his mouth!

I wouldn't cut slits in a dummy as it will cause him to suck in a lot of air and create very bad wind. That will make him incredibly unhappy and even less likely to settle. You should regularly check dummies to make sure they don't have any holes in them.

The MAM ones are good as they fit closer to the mouth so are harder to knock out. Amelia will spit it out if she doesn't want it. I only give it to her to settle her at sleep times which I think it's fine. It's 3 years old strolling round the shops with them in that is a bad thing (in my opinion).

We had this proble, it escalated to the point that Emilia couldnt sleep without it and woke up at least 20 times a night. I had to take it away so Emilia could sleep...I felt I was doing the wrong thing giving her a dummy that was preventing her from settling for a good sleep.To be honest I just stopped giving it to her. We had about an hour of crying before she forgot about it. The next night she just went to sleep. She slept the whole night and has done ever since. She was 8 weeks when we got rid of it.

Best thing I ever did for her, but it does depend whether you want to get rid of it full stop.

ha ha I've only just got rid of my sons dummies at 2years 8 months!!!! but when I finally decided to do it, it was so easy and he hasn't asked for it once in over a week now!!

I agree with the other comment about not taking it away straight away or before 6 months as lo is still very young and doesn't understand. the slit thing is really meant for older toddlers as for babes it would cause a lot of wind issues.

My son had a dummy from a few weeks and but I can't remember it being a problem losing his dummy in the night cause he never slept anyway at that early age!!I think he was about 7months ish when he could find it himself and pop back in tho.

My personal advice would be to carry on with dummy for now as lo is attached to it, and they do have benefits to preventing SIDS but I would also advise to get rid of it earlier than I did. In hindsight i wished i'd have tackled it at about a year / 18months

My LO had a dummy up to 4 months, 4 would wake up at least 5 times a night, sometimes 10+ for us to go and replace dummy that was lost, We took it away one night and didnt give him it at all and he slept through the night and has done ever since. He has since found his thumb and uses that to setttle himself.Sx

My son has a dummy, I hate them but we gave it to him because he had colic and sucking the dummy was the only thing that helped, then when his colic passed he only had it to go to sleep in the day and now he has it at night to but he only has it to go off at first, he doesn't wake when it falls out and he doesn't need it if he wakes in the night he will self-settle. We are going on holiday next week so I will leave it until after that but then I am going to go cold turkey with it as he doesn't need it now it is just a habit and he does suck his thumb so hopefully he'll replace it if he needs to. He'll be 6 months by then.